Dunlavy SC4 Speakers

Junkie, sorry; I can't give you any info on the AR9's, but I just thought I'd chime in anyhow. I have a pair of SC3's that I bought over 10 years ago. To this day I'm always blown away by how they sound. They are very revealing, meaning that if you have a bad recording, you are going to hear it. It doesn't stand in the music's way. They are time aligned and phase coherent. I'll warn you; the sweet spot is narrow. But you'll be cleaning or cooking, so it wont matter. I believe that mine roll off around 40 hz or so, but I don't miss any low end. Bass is very tight, clean and quick. And the mids and highs are to die for, especially close-miked voices; bone chilling. I'm always amazed at the tweeters as well; the articulation of metal brushes on a ride cymbal, the attack and decay of a rim shot, stacatto notes from a flute, all sound so crisp and clear. I haven't heard that level of clarity from a ribbon tweeter. Although John Dunlavy said you didn't need megawatts to drive these, I believe they march firmly to the beat with 150 to 300 watts of solid state (some tube afficianodos could recommend similar tube configurations). I do have a little sub (VS 10"). But, to be honest, I rarely run it. $1,500 for a pair of SC 4's is a really good price. I saw that you started this thread on 12/16, and as of 12/26 you are still on the fence. You better grab them before someone else does. Good luck.

Sauce, thanks for the detailed feedback. I hear many great things about the Dunlavy SCIV speakers. Even those who talked negative about them only say for such a large speaker they don't go as low as one would think they would. But im sure they go lower than my Vandersteen 2ci speakers. Vandersteen being a great speaker no doubt just hate having to deal with adjusting the sub when different tracks or genre of music is playing. So I decided to replace them with speakers that wouldn't require subs. Thouhjt of replacing my Klipsch sw12 sub. But once I saw the price of good musical subs. I decided for the money I could just upgrade my speakers. Again the Dunlavy and AR9 speakers are at the top of list due to availability to me. They would be coming from a local audio source so I have a little time to decide which I want.

One more vote for the Dunlavys. I too haven't heard AR9s but as Judsauce and many others have said/implied the Dunlavys' perform way above the price you are being offered. Even if the set you are looking at might be from the early runs. I too have Dunlavy I, IIs, IVs and Vs. I started with Vs which are world class performers way back in 97 and still can't even dream of replacing them. No way. I acquired IVs and smaller ones later because they all perform at exactly similarly minus the low freq extension as you go over in the model range.

You know I would even go as far as saying that if you audition say IVs or Vs against current so called "state of the art" six figure speakers, you might end up prefering Dunlavys. I know I have.

Sorry, I haven't heard the Telydynes. FWIW, I don't think you'll get much more bass from the SC IV's than your Vandy 2's. With that said, I'd rather the Dunlavys, especially at that price.

Got my SC-IV's in 1995. I had been using a sub with the predecessor spkr (Quad ESL-63), but reading the reviews and auditioning the SC-IV's a few times, the need was borderline. Around the same time period Carver released his Sunfire amp, offering the option for bi-wiring - drive the woofer with the 'zero' impedance "voltage" output, and the mid/high crossover circuit from the "current" output, which apparently has a 1-ohm output impedance. The effect is to boost the lows a bit (2 dB or so).

I have used this combination since '95, no sub, and pulled into the room a bit, away from rear wall reflections. At that price, hard to go wrong! Good luck.